Intel yesterday said it has bought three companies specialising in high-end optical networks, but it refused to say how much it had paid for them.

Two of the three - Cognet and nSerial - both develop low-cost, chipsets that process electronic signals that have been converted from light waves by 10GBps Ethernet optical units. nSerial's parts format the data into a form other networking devices can understand and process.

LightLogic, meanwhile, makes the components that convert light waves into electronic signals.

Last year, Intel bought Giga A/S, which is driving its development of next-generation 40Gbps optical networking systems. The technology it will have gained from Cognet, nSerial and LightLogic, will allow it to cut the costs of the 10Gbps components it acquired through the Giga purchase. ®